1. Field
Exemplary embodiments broadly relate to a location detecting service technique of a communication terminal, and more particularly, to a method and an apparatus for providing a differential location-based service using an access point for a wireless local area network (WLAN) service.
2. Description of the Related Art
With the development of mobile communication techniques, studies have been actively conducted on location detecting techniques that detect a location of a communication terminal in a communication network. For example, a global positioning system (GPS)-based location detecting technique using satellites, a location detecting technique using base stations, and the like, have been developed.
The GPS-based location detecting technique has a disadvantage of requiring that a GPS receiver be mounted on a communication terminal. Also, because the GPS-based location detecting technique was developed by the U.S. Department of Defense for a military use, a high-precision GPS-based location detecting technique is not publicly known or available.
The base station-based location detecting technique has an advantage of not having to mount a GPS receiver on a communication terminal, but has a drawback of a low accuracy in the location detection by having a larger offset by tens to hundreds meters more than the GPS-based location detecting technique.
Recently, a wireless local area communication service using a wireless local area network (WLAN) is receiving attention. The WLAN-based service enables communication terminal users to wirelessly connect their communication terminals within a predetermined area from a WLAN access point to the Internet. The communication terminals, such as, for example, laptop computers, personal digital assistants (PDAs), smart phones, and the like, have a WLAN card mounted therein. To meet the increasing demand for the WLAN service, installations of access points indoors/outdoors have increased.
Because many access points have now been installed indoors/outdoors, a location of a communication terminal can be determined or obtained by using the access points in buildings where a GPS-based location detecting technique could not otherwise be applied. Also, as the number of access points increases, a location of a communication terminal can be determined with a higher accuracy than that of a base station-based location detecting technique.
Accordingly, research and development on a location detecting technique using an access point of a WLAN service has recently been rapidly increasing.